Items

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  2020-04-01

  Jewish Melbourne: Rabbi Chaim Herzog of Chabad Melbourne distributes shmura matza during pandemic

  In this photo Rabbi Chaim Herzog of Chabad of Melbourne is delivering shmura matzah to Claude Schwarz. In the period before Passover the custom is to receive hand baked shmura matza for the seder night.
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  2020-04-03

  Jewish Melbourne: Kehilat Kolenu Pesach drash

  Pesach in 2020/5780 came at the beginning of Melbourne's lockdown, and services were held online. Tal Cohen delivered a drash during Kehilat Kolenu's services.
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  2020-04-08

  Jewish Melbourne: The Plague Year Hypertext Haggadah

  An interactive hypertext haggadah I wrote for my family’s Zoom seder in 2020. I used Twine, a popular open-source, interactive fiction tool, to write a choose-your-own-adventure haggadah. It was the first zoom-based seder I had ever attended, and I didn't know how long my family would tolerate technological difficulties and the often awkward, fragmented conversation that some Zoom conversations/events can descend into. (Let alone the near-impossibility of group singing via zoom). Apart from this, it’s fairly common in my family, as in many others, that parts of the seder are skipped over, or their inclusion is contested, and I thought that trying to conduct a seder via zoom would only make people more eager to get it over with and reach Shulchan Orech, i.e. the getting drunk/ shittalking part and then call it a night. Writing/Compiling a hypertext haggadah was my attempt to facilitate a more fluid seder, in which parts could easily be skipped over on the night, among other reasons. In practice in turned out to be a bit of a shemozzle, which is partly due to some technological illiteracy among the mishpachah, and also partly because my hypertext haggadah is a rabbit warren (over 5,000 words spread over over hundreds of individual pages joined by hyperlinks), and so moments of anarchy would often ensue when people strayed from the communal path (which I enjoyed tbh, but were clearly frustrating to my uncle, whose ideal seder is basically the Two-Minute Haggadah: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2013/03/the-two-minute-haggadah.html)
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  2020-04-03

  Jewish Melbourne: Australian Jewish community management of COVID-19 pandemic – National Bulletin #3

  In the lead-up to Pesach, this update provides a summary of "the current status of Jewish community life in each State and Territory". It begins: "Jewish community organisations and leaders across Australia continue their efforts to manage the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Jewish institutions, families, individuals and, most especially, the elderly and vulnerable. We recognise with deep appreciation the continuing work being done by the Jewish community roof bodies in each State, the Crisis Management Teams of the Community Security Groups, shules, the Day Schools, the aged care sector, the welfare sector and volunteers, and commend them for the high sense of responsibility they have demonstrated. With the approach of Pesach, when families typically gather to celebrate the Seder, many individuals and families will be feeling the effects of physical isolation from relatives and friends. Perhaps in the future we will look back upon these times and appreciate all the more the joy of being able to celebrate Pesach with family and friends, and have all the more compassion for those who have nowhere to go on Seder night, and are all alone."
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  2020-04-29

  Jewish Melbourne: 'YG Melbourne Resumes Full Seder Virtually Amidst Coronavirus'

  This news update begins: "The Communists in Russia were not able to shut down Tomchei Temimim, and COVID-19 won’t shut it down either. The challenge today is different, but the mission remains the same, in what is surely Tomchei Temimim’s final frontier before Moshiach’s arrival. The Rebbe Rashab, the Frierdiker Rebbe, the Rebbe, and all the Temimim of old are looking to us, the final generation of Temimim, to carry the baton over the finish line. To that end, YG Melbourne resumed full Seder today via online platforms Zoom and Google Classroom, with the aim of supporting each Bochur in keeping a regular full day of Seder. Instead of reducing Torah study, YG’s full-service virtual Zal resumed Seder two days ahead of schedule. Seder was also opened up to all Bochurim enrolled in overseas Yeshivos who are stranded in Australia due to COVID-19 travel restrictions."
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  2020-04

  Jewish Melbourne: Chabad Kingston resources for Pesach

  L'Chaim Chabad Kingston assembled a website of resources for Pesach 2020, providing information for congregants: "As Jewish people around the world prepare for Passover under the pale of coronavirus, we are faced with a host of new challenges and questions. How are we to prepare with minimal ingredients and limited access to communal resources? How to celebrate the Seder alone? How will we celebrate the Festival of Freedom with our movement restricted? Find answers to all this and more ..."
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  2020-04-09

  Jewish Melbourne: TBI Pesach Seder

  On 9 April 2020, Temple Beth Israel streamed a Pesach seder, which was lead by Cantor Laloum
• 2020-04-05

  A very different Pesach

  Pesach 2020: This night that is different from all other nights is going to be even more different this year.
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  2020-04-08

  Pesakh in lockdown

  Pesakh was going to be a large family event. We had people coming from London, Canberra, Sydney and of course, Melbourne. Then the pandemic hit. No-one could travel, and we were not allowed any visitors in our house. So, we set up a zoom Seyder. We had members of the family join Zoom from London, Lund (Sweden), Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne. It was a huge success.
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  2020-04-05

  Pesach across three continents and four cities

  First night seder of Pesach took place on zoom with ten different extended families from across the globe. Whilst it was chaos to the max, it was actually one of the most fun-filled interactive seders I have ever experienced.
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  2020-04-07

  Jewish Melbourne Passover 2020

  Missing the Seder with friends...the story, songs, prayers, food and children squirming waiting for dinner.
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  2020-04-08T17:00

  Seder for 2!

  I normally go to my sister’s place for Seder. She has 22 people attending! This is the first one I’ve done at home & I’m 60!
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  2020-04-08

  What are the most fitting questions to ask at a Corona Seder?

  Questions from my corona seder - in attachment
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  2020-04-13

  Next Time in Person

  An illustration of a piece of matzah, with the words "next year in person" inscribed on it. The Passover Seder traditionally ends with an expression of hope to celebrate "next year in Jerusalem," a hope related to aspirations for the ancient Jewish homeland, and for peace. This year, separated by stay-at-home practices, we simply hope to celebrate "next year in person."
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  2020-03-22

  Irony: The Passover Seder Is Canceled Due to a Plague.

  This was, for many of us, the first Passover that we could not celebrate together, in person, as a family. Various rabbinical authorities even authorized that it was okay to celebrate Passover over Zoom, even though all electronics are normally off-limits during the first two nights/days of the holiday. Passover is, of course, a holiday which celebrates a story in which Ten Plagues brought down upon the Egyptian slavemasters by God, feature prominently. Many of us, particularly in the United States, have been privileged to never have to suffer from anything we might call a "plague." Most years, the Ten Plagues are a much more abstract concept - some families even joke around about the plagues, with a wide variety of children's toys available to help make the Passover Seder more tolerable / enjoyable for little ones. This year, I would imagine there was far less interest in making light of the Plagues. *From Creator: Cheryl Rosen (https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1039073053139568&id=100011106495553)
• 
  2020-04-09

  This Passover, the seders are virtual. The plague is real

  Jewish communities celebrated the holiday of Passover at home.